1. Technical Field
This invention pertains to the field of remote physical interaction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Human contact has always involved stimulation of other people""s senses, be it at an informal level or in a more intimate context. The need for sensory perception during the course of human contact can be driven by a myriad of motives. In one context, human emotional involvement has always led to an affectionate caress of a potential or current mate.
Men and women hold hands, kiss and engaged in more prurient appealing activities. In another context, physicians are required to touch their patients in order to facilitate a diagnosis. These two forums of human contact have vary disparate motivation, but the need to make a physical contact with another human being is no less compelling in any venue. Physical contact has always been a means for enhancing communications.
With the advent of modern telecommunications, doctors can now see their patients remotely. Video teleconferencing has helped specialized medical practitioners visit patients that could not otherwise be attended to. Video teleconferencing has also enabled a whole new generation of people to meet and socialize without ever having to leave their homes.
In this age of networked computers, the ability for people to communicate over vast distances is uncontroverted. The form of this communication, though, continues to comprise textual messaging, audio and video information.
The traditional use of sight and sound for communication over a computer network brings many people together. Doctors can perform virtual house calls and people can meet each other for social or business purposes.
As effective as audio and video is for communication, it does not provide for the tactile sensation so inherent in many forms of human contact. Once people meet over a computer network, they are apt to desire some form of physical contact. The prior art has not provided a means for these people to shake hands, share a kiss or to engage in other, more private forms of physical contact. Likewise, physicians have no means available to remotely touch a patient.
A doctor affecting a diagnosis may in fact need to explore the body of the patient in order to procure an effective diagnosis. Video based examination of a patient is fairly effective, but the tactile response a doctor perceives by touching the patient can be an invaluable method of determining the cause of a physical condition.
What is lacking in the known art is a means of transmitting tactile or other physical stimulus from one human user to another. The present invention does just this, it enables people to expand on the notion of teleconferencing or computer communications by adding a capability to engage in all types of physical contact.
The present invention comprises a method and apparatus that enable remote physical contact. The method of the present invention comprises the steps of using a first mechanical surrogate attached to a first computing device. The mechanical surrogate can me any anatomical component. The first mechanical surrogate further comprises sensors that enable the mechanical surrogate to detect actions imparted onto it. Such actions could comprise temperature, pressure or physical displacement. These actions are perceived by the appropriate sensors for temperature, pressure or displacement. The types of actions perceived and the types of sensors disposed in the mechanical surrogate can vary with the application and hence any or all of these types of sensors can be used collectively or in any possible combination.
A user specifies the address of a remote computing device as either a logical or physical address. Using this address, the first computing device will establish a connection with a second computing device that has a second mechanical surrogate attached thereto. The second mechanical surrogate comprises actuators that enable it to mimic the actions imparted onto the first mechanical surrogate. The first computing device monitors the sensors disposed in the first mechanical surrogate and creates contact messages that reflect the state of the first surrogate. The contact message can be though of as carrying information indicative of the action imparted on the first mechanical surrogate.
The first computing device then conveys the contact message to the second computing device where it is processed and used to command actuators disposed in the second mechanical surrogate. The actuators in the second surrogate comprise any combination of thermal (heater and cooler), pressure and displacement actuators. In many applications the first and second surrogates are counterparts of each other. This most commonly pertains to a hand that is used as the second surrogate and a glove that is used as a first surrogate.
In order to provide for a full-duplex capability, the method of the present invention further teaches the step of receiving sensory input from the second surrogate in the second computing device. This allows the actions imparted onto the second surrogate to be perceived by sensors disposed thereon or therein. Because each surrogate is actively manipulated in response to contact messages received from the opposing computer, there exists the possibility for positive feedback.
The method of the present invention teaches that the feedback from the second surrogate be attenuated by action components induced by commanding of the actuator.
Once the feedback is attenuated, the second computing device creates a contact message that reflects the attenuated, or buffered sensory signals. These contact messages are conveyed to the first computing device so that the first surrogate can be commanded to mimic the actions imparted onto the second surrogate.
The method of the present invention further defines a step for receiving video information from a video camera attached to the first computing device and then conveying the video in a compressed format to the second computing device.
Once the compressed video arrives at the second computing device, it is presented on a graphic display. This provides a visual perception of the contact episode embodied in the manipulation of the mechanical surrogates.
The method of the present invention also claims the capability to receive audio information from a microphone attached to the first computing device. The audio is then conveyed to the second computing device where it is routed to a speaker system or audio output unit.
The method of the present invention further defines a capability for receiving text from a keyboard attached to the first computing device, conveying the text to the second computing device and then displaying the text on a graphic display on the second computing device.
All conveyance from the first computing device to the second computing device of audio, video and/or textual data is accomplished by way of the communications link.
The method of the present invention is embodied in a computer program. The computer program comprises an interface manager, a sensor process and a response actuator process. The sensor process receives sensor inputs from a mechanical surrogate and creates contact messages indicative of the actions imparted onto the surrogate. The sensor processor then conveys the contact message to a remote process by way of computer readable media.
The response actuator process receives a second contact message from a remote process also by way of computer readable media. The response actuator process then commands actuators in or on a mechanical surrogate in order to conform the surrogate to a contact as defined in the second contact message.
Although the most common form of computer readable media that is used to convey contact messages would be a network, as for instance the Internet, rotating media can also be used. Rotating media may be an effective means of storing contact characteristics for future replication.
The contact messages sent and received by the computer program comprise various contact characteristic fields. Some of these include a temperature characteristic field, a pressure characteristic field and a displacement characteristic field.
The computer program further comprises a graphical user interface manager that presents a graphical user interface comprising an address acceptance window, and command buttons to start and stop a contact encounter. The graphical user interface manager sends the address, which can be either logical or physical, to the interface manager. The interface manager uses the address to establish a communication link with a corresponding process.
The graphical user interface manager further presents a textual chat window. The graphical user interface manager conveys the text that is acquires from a keyboard to the interface manager. The graphical user interface manager also receives text from the interface manager and presents it in the textual chat window. The graphical user interface manager can also present a video display window and display video data that it receives from the interface manager.
The invention also comprises a mechanical surrogate in the form of a human lip. The human lip surrogate comprises upper and lower lips formed from a pliable material and lip actuators and sensors. The lips can be formed from silicon. The lip actuators can be any combination of heater-coolers, pressure actuators or displacement sensors. The sensors disposed on or in the lip can be thermal sensors, pressure sensors or displacement sensors. Any combination of these can be used. The human lip surrogate further comprises a mounting flange to facilitate mounting of the surrogate.